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(No Model.)

W. M. THOMAS. CARTRIDGE SHELL FOR PRACTICE SHOOTING. No. 581,233.Patented Dec. 18, 1894.

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Umrnn STATES FFIQE.

PATENT IVILLIAM M. THOMAS, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGN OR TO THEUNION METALLIC CARTRIDGE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CARTRIDGE-SHELL FOR PRACTICE SHOOTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 531,233, dated December18, 1 894.

Application fil d March 16,1894. Serial No. 503,841. (No model.)

To to whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. THOMAS, a citizen of theUnited States,residing atBridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCartridge-Shells for Practice Shooting; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a cartridge shell for longrange military rifles which shall be especially adapted for targetpractice at short range.

It is of course well understood that standing armies and militia arebeing armed as rapidly as possible with rifles of various types whichwith ordinary cartridges are reason-' ably accurate at from two thousandto two thousand five hundred yards, also that ordinary cartridgesmanufactured for this class of rifles are not well adapted to practiceshooting at short range, for example at a range of forty yards; and alsothat cartridges used in any class of rifles in order to produce accuracyin shooting must fit the chamber of the rifle accurately. It isfurthermore well known that the powder chambers of cartridges for thisclass of rifles have a greater diameter than the bullet, long conicalbullets of comparatively small caliber being used in connection withpowder chambers of considerably greater diameter so as to provide forheavy charges of powder for long range shooting. In order that the usersof this class of rifles may be provided with cartridges especiallyadapted for accurate short range shooting I have devised the novelcartridge shell of which the following description in connection withthe accompanying drawings is a specification, numbers being used todesignate the several parts.

Figure 1 is asection of the breech and chamber of an ordinary militaryrifle barrel the cartridge being indicated by dotted lines. Figs. 2, 8and 4 are illustrations partly in elevation and partly in section of mynovel cartridge shell for practice shooting illustrating slightlydifierent modes in which I have car ried my invention into efiect.

1 denotes the powder chamber of a cartridge shell, 2 an ordinary longbullet and 3 the neck of the shell which receives the base of thebullet.

In myimproved cartridge shell parts 2and 3 are of ordinary construction.The correspondingbullet however, whichI have designated by dis very muchshorter and could not be used in connection with the regular cartridgeshell. This will be obvious from Fig. 1 in which 5 represents theportion of the chamber of the rifle which receives powder chamber 1 ofthe cartridge, 6 the portion of the rifle chamber which receives portion3 of the cartridge and 7 the bullet seat or portion of the rifle chamberin which a long bullet is received, the grooves which are designated by8 running out in portion 7 of the rifle chamber.

It will be obvious that under any circumstances in order to secureaccuracy in shooting the bullet must fit closely in portion 7 of therifle chamber which is expressly formed to receive long bullets. Itfollows therefore that accuracy in shooting would be impossible withthis class of rifles if short bullets were used in connection withcartridge shells of ordinary size and length as the bullets would notfit the portion 7 of the rifle chamber. In order to provide a cartridgeshell adapted to receive a short bullet and which shall be adapted tolong range military rifles but will produce accuracy in shooting atshort range I provide cartridge shells having portions 9 made of sheetmetal and which are of the same external diameter as the bases of longrange bullets so that this portion of the cartridge shell willaccurately fit portion 7 of the rifle chamber in which the points of thebullets will be closely seated in engagement with the ends of thegrooves as is clearly indicated in Fig. 1.

It should be understood that the novelty of my invention consists inproviding cartridge shells with sheet metal portions 9 adapted to engageportion 7 of the chambers of rifles without regard to how said portions9 are formed. In Fig. 3 I have shown portion 9 as formed integral withthe neck of an ordinary long range cartridge shell. In Fig. 4 I haveshown portion 9 as made in the form of an independent tube and securedin place in any suit able manner as by soldering, and I have shownportion 9 as madein the form of an independent tube the base of whichrests against a groove 10 which is turned in portion 3 of an ordinarycartridge shell and have shown the tube as secured in place by turningin the end of the shell as at 11.

Having thus described my invention, I claim A sheet metal cartridgeshell consisting of a single metal shell having the ordinary powderchamber 1, and the reduced or bottlenecked part 3, said bottle-neckedpart being still further reduced to form the extension 9, the interiorof said shell conforming substantially in configuration to the exterior,whereby a short projectile may be used in saidcartridge shell withoutaltering the external configuration, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM M. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

A. M. WOOSTER, S. V. RICHARDSON.

